Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Below is a chart that was published in the New York Times yesterday. Apparently, subways are—prepare yourselves—not on time. Slower than ever, even. So slow that they have to raise fares, because inexplicable loss of time is, apparently, money.

But while this angers me, my overwhelming feeling, when looking at this chart, is shock. Who exactly is telling me that the Q train runs on schedule 97% of the time? Because I wait for that slow mofo every morning and the B train—the B train! Who even takes the B train?!—comes three times as often. And look at the rest of the numbers—practically every single train, according to this data, is on time, all the time. Does the MTA not ride the trains? Let me see these so-called "schedules." I bet you $5 they are handwritten on Olde English wrappers.

And then we have the reasons for the delays. Some of them are clear (i.e. track work, sick passenger), but the overwhelming percentage of delays are caused by mysterious "other" factors. I imagine this list to include things like "narcoleptic conductor," and "rat stuck in clutch."